Diamond Pills
by Cassodembreankia
Summary: "Being in a relationship with a toxic man is like being addicted to diamond pills. They look so amazing that your mind is tricked into thinking that they must be good for you. But in reality they are absolutely useless and just leave you with rocks in your stomach that you can't digest."
1. - First Met

**Chapter 1 - First Met**

* * *

Star liked wandering the convention hall. She liked talking to subscribers and laughing with them and smiling. Sure she was an introvert and would be about ready to collapse by the time she got back to the hotel, but she _loved_ being around her subscribers. They were all so excited to see her—and she was always excited to see them.

In particular she loved hugging them and taking pictures and just acting like they'd all been friends for years. She had a few buttons made up with little inside jokes from her channel on them that she'd give out if people knew she had them.

She threw her lanyard over her shoulder to get it out of the way in order to take a selfie with some girls who were squealing and laughing before turning to the camera and grinning widely.

After a couple hours of the same routine, her feet were aching and a dehydration headache was coming on. She retreated to the back room where there were a few chairs for the YouTubers to sit on and relax for a bit. Flopping down, she pulled her water bottle and a headache pill out of her bag. She hated brand-new, never-been-opened water because she thought it tasted funny, but if she absolutely _had_ to drink it, she would. And a headache was reason enough to drink the weird water. So she guzzled enough to make the water line disappear under the label and took the pill to ease the pain that was starting to pound in her temples.

Once she set her water on the floor, she started to read through the texts she'd gotten from friends back home, replying as she went. There were only a few—as she'd never been particularly _popular_ but the friends she _did_ have hoped she was okay—so it didn't take long. Once she was finished, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, taking a moment to relax. She'd return to the convention floor in a few minutes, but for the moment, she just reveled in the silence.

For a several long minutes she sat in the peace and quiet, phone tucked under her leg so she'd feel it if it vibrated. The muffled chatter of the thousands of convention attendees was white noise that she tuned out to listen to the silence.

Silence that was broken when the door opened and two voices entered the room. Star peeked one eye open enough to see two very tall men walking towards the chairs near her. One was wearing a black shirt and black skinny jeans and had brown hair. The other had black hair and was wearing a blue shirt and black skinny jeans. She couldn't make out any other features because her eyelashes blurred their faces. But their accents were distinctly British. Unconcerned, she closed her eye again and sighed, trying to relax again, despite the interruption.

That proved to be impossible. One of the newcomers had tripped over her extended leg, spilling his open water bottle over the carpet. Several things happened at once. The black-haired klutz yelped and caught himself on his hand. The brown-haired man shouted, "Phil!" And, startled, Star lurched back—making her chair tumble backwards. She landed with a heavy _thud_ and a sharp jerk in her neck.

Giving a pitiful grunt, a discombobulated Star tried to reorient her muddled brain and figure out how to stand up.

The brown-haired man, seeing that his black-haired companion was _fine_ , circled around to help Star, kneeling on the carpet and disentangling her lanyard from her hair where it had wound and was close to strangling her. He took a good look at the ident card on the bottom since he didn't recognize her face.

 **Name:** _Star Fay_

 **Channel Name:** _Starquake Dreams_

 **Passion:** _Writing, Fandoms, YouTube, Fireworks, Collecting Gems_

Her handwriting was nice and neat—with a crazy half-and-half mix of print and cursive. He dropped the ident card and offered her his hand.

Star grabbed his hand and let him help her back into an upright position.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded blearily. "I'm fine," she replied automatically. "I mean, my head hurts but other than that, everything's good." All three of them were standing now and Star's headache still hadn't quite gone away—made a bit worse by falling backwards.

Blinking the pain away, she looked at their lanyards' ID cards. She didn't recognize them either.

The brown-haired man's handwriting was really messy and hard to read, but she managed to figure out what he'd written.

 **Name:** _Dan_

 **Channel Name:** _danisnotonfire_

 **Passion:** _dogs_

In comparison, the black-haired man's writing was quite easy to read.

 **Name:** _Phil Lester_

 **Channel Name:** _AmazingPhil_

 **Passion:** _PANCAKES_

Star looked up from their torsos where the cards were hanging and smiled at them. The famous Dan and Phil. She'd heard a lot about them from her other YouTubers friends, but had never met them or seen their faces—despite how many YouTube conventions she'd attended. Apparently fate had tried to keep the three of them from meeting.

No. Star didn't believe in fate or destiny. She'd never met Phil or Dan because they were well-known and probably always busy with big-name YouTubers and meet-and-greets and whatever. Fate had nothing to do with it.

"Nice to meet you," Dan offered, holding his hand out. His left hand. Star smirked. He was a leftie. She shook it. "I'm Dan Howell."

"Star Fay," she replied, shaking his left with hers.

"Phil Lester!" Phil, the black-haired one, offered brightly with a big grin, sticking his right hand out. "Sorry I tripped on you! I'm the clumsiest person on the planet!" Star smiled as she dropped Dan's hand and took Phil's to shake in greeting.

Once she'd gripped it he yanked her closer and gave her an apologetic hug.

"It's… it's okay really," she commented, her voice muffled by his T-shirt since she was a little over a foot shorter than him and Dan and her mouth only came up to the top of his abdomen while her eyes were looking at his sternum. "It hurt a little bit, sure, but it's going away." That bit was a lie but she didn't want Phil to feel bad. He had a reputation for being kind and empathetic, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

At that moment, the door opened again to reveal Louise and Zoe. "What's going on in _here?_ " Louise demanded teasingly.

Star forcefully shoved herself away from Phil as he let her go lightly. She rushed over to Louise and grabbed the older woman's shoulders. "Whatever you do, you can't tell Ben! Phil was apologizing for tripping over me but Ben is so jealous we'd get into a fight over it!" Star told Louise pleadingly, looking between her and Zoe. "Both of you. Please!"

"I didn't realize you and the boys knew each other!" Louise commented as though Star hadn't spoken. "I was just about to come find you both and introduce you!"

"Yes, we met about thirty seconds ago," Dan put in.

"Louise!" Star hissed. " _Promise_ me you won't tell Ben!"

SprinkleofGlitter smiled and gave the much younger girl a comforting hug. "You know I won't, kiddie. You know I'd hate to ruin your relationship," Louise said into the girl's long, thick brown hair. Both Dan and Phil perked up a bit.

"Wait. Someone's been successful in getting into a relationship?!" Dan demanded sarcastically.

"Congratulations!" Phil added.

Star snickered as Louise let her go and Zoe promised she wouldn't tell Ben either. Star turned to the boys and smiled. "Thanks. But I wouldn't say 'successful', per se. No relationship is without its faults. And me and Ben have a slew of our own." Star's voice dropped until she was almost talking to just herself. "Sometimes I wonder why we're still even together," she muttered under her breath. Dan and Louise both gave her a surprised look, but Phil was paying more attention to his untied shoelace than the girl with the long brown hair—that was lighter than Dan's and not as rich, but thicker than his—and brown eyes—that were darker and more evenly-colored than Dan's.

Zoe nudged Louise and Star in the arms. "We really ought to be going," she murmured quietly.

Star looked down at her watch. "Shoot," she hissed. She'd been in the back room far longer than she'd thought. She grabbed her bag from near the chair and called a quick goodbye to everyone before rushing out.


	2. - First Dance

**Chapter 2 - First Dance**

* * *

Star was sitting in the corner of the dimly lit room, the night after the incident in the back room. The other YouTubers were all having a party around her. There was alcohol and people were dancing sloppily. She didn't like it. She loved dancing but didn't like alcohol. She definitely wasn't brave enough to join anyone on the dance floor for fear of getting stepped on. She was quite a bit shorter than almost everyone there and didn't want to be trampled.

So she was on her phone, aimlessly scrolling through her camera roll at pictures she'd taken during the convention, smiling at the goofy faces she'd made with Louise and Zoe—and the fabulous dip with Tyler Oakley—him bent backward over her leg of course. She'd have to text him the picture later.

"You look lonely," a British voice remarked. Star glanced up from her screen, automatically turning it off so no one could spy at what she was doing.

It was Dan. He had a cocktail in his hand but it looked like he hadn't drank any of it.

Star shrugged. "I'm still a bit small-time. Don't have a _ton_ of friends in the community. Plus I don't like this kind of environment," she replied, just loud enough to be heard over the thrumming music. Dan sat down opposite her and put his drink on the table. Star licked and bit her lower lip before meeting his eyes. He was staring contemplatively at her.

"Why don't you have a drink?" he asked.

"You really don't know me, do you?" Star retorted with a sharp grin. "First, I'm not old enough. I won't be twenty-one for another five months. Second, I decided a long time ago never to drink alcohol. So I'm not going to."

"No I know that," Dan put in quickly, waving his left hand. "But you don't even have a water. If you don't hydrate, you'll get a headache." Star chuckled and looked down at where her hands were cradling her phone on the table with an amused smile tugging on the corners of her mouth. She thought Dan was funny. The fact that he knew who she was—but she still didn't really know who he was—was almost shocking to her. It was rare—as far as she knew—for small-timers to get known by big-timers.

"Well, thank you for your concern," she started, a laugh in her voice. "But I'm okay for now. I have a water bottle back in my hotel room. I just didn't want to drag it with me."

There was a beat of silence as Dan's eyes restlessly searched her face.

"Would you care to dance?" he offered, extending his hand across the table. Star peered over his shoulder at the dancefloor—where Phil and Cat were in the middle of a slightly inebriated, very clumsy but intense dance-off. Dan noticed her eyes wander and turned around to see what she was looking at. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay. Maybe not here. But the offer still stands."

Half of Star's mouth turned up. "As long as it's not here, I would love to," she told him.

He stood up and offered her his hand. "Miss Fay, may I escort you?"

She laughed—a deep-throated giggle. "You may," she returned sweetly, slinging her purse strap over her shoulder and taking his hand. Abandoning his cocktail and leaving it behind on the table, he walked with her out of the party.

They walked the few blocks down the road to the hotel. It was late and there weren't many people in the lobby. The two YouTubers walked right through the lobby to the pool.

Both of them took their phones out of their pockets. Star slid hers into her purse and Dan set his on the lounge chair next to where she'd placed her bag. Turning the volume down a bit, they danced on the pool deck to a fun, sort of jazzy tune. Star was smiling and laughing quietly. Dan was staring at her, watching the light shimmer across her face from under the water. She spun under his arm with practiced ease, hand instinctively reaching for his free one, and hair flying around her head.

 _If she didn't have a boyfriend I'd ask her out,_ he thought suddenly.

His mind pulled up short. Where had _that_ come from? He'd met her _yesterday!_ Sure he'd seen her videos, but _YESTERDAY!_

Awkwardly trying to shake himself out of his reverie, he looked down at her. "So… tell me about Ben," he suggested. She snorted almost _bitterly_ and looked down at the design on his T-shirt with a subtle roll of her eyes.

"I really don't want to talk about him," she remarked. "Where did you learn to dance?"

Dan allowed the subject change. "My mum taught me a bit a long time ago, and then when I was doing all the acting and drama stuff we had to learn some things for performances or productions," he answered truthfully. Star smiled, forgetting the tentative subject that was her extremely jealous boyfriend for a few minutes.

"So," she started at the song change. "What possessed you to come talk to me? To give up your drink and the party to take me back to the hotel to dance by the pool completely sober?"

Dan gave her a little sideways smirk with half of his mouth. "You just looked so bored sitting there by yourself. And I knew I wasn't going to do much partying—so to speak. I'd probably just sit there on my phone too and eating all the food. It's worth it—being here with you I mean. At least I'm not just sitting in the corner eating all the food alone," he replied, choosing each word carefully. "Also now we can talk without having to shout over the music. And I've been interested in talking to you since we properly met yesterday."

"What do you want to talk about?" Star edged carefully.

"Well, as curious as I am about your mysterious, jealous boyfriend, I know that you _don't_ want to talk about him, so I'll just be curious about getting to know you. Are you willing to tell me a bit about yourself? I can already see that you have gorgeous eyes and beautiful hair, but what else?"

Star chuckled and looked down at her toes for a moment. "Well, I'm an unabashed nerd. I love Doctor Who, and the Avengers, and Sherlock, and lots of other TV shows and movies. I actively enjoy both Star Trek and Star Wars, Marvel and DC, and don't see why people pick sides. It's so much more fun to enjoy everything. I've never had a pet larger than a fish. I'm twenty years old and still believe in magic. My favorite color is blue. Usually I don't wear makeup if I can avoid it but other times it makes me feel more confident so I'll put on _some_. I've broken one bone in my left arm and sprained my right ankle once—maybe twice. I've written enough pages to fill five novels but they're of all different stories. I enjoy swing dancing and ballroom dancing but I have no coordination. The only sport I'm even vaguely good at is Ultimate Frisbee… And that's pretty much it."

When her eyes finally found Dan's again, he was grinning cheekily at her. "You can go far with all of that, kid," he remarked.

The two danced for a while, laughing and giggling quietly, slipping a bit on the wet deck.

Somehow, they made their way up to Dan and Phil's room, sitting side-by-side on Dan's bed, taking turns reading aloud a trashy romance novel that had been in the hotel's little library-type thing. Completely sober, they laughed so hard they cried until Star fell asleep on Dan's shoulder, her hair tickling his arm.

* * *

 **End Note: I didn't mention a few things when I posted the last chapter: Starquake Dreams is an actual YouTube channel. And the quote in the summary is original from me and will be in a later chapter. You'll see.**

 **Hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like, or a question if something wasn't clear! Thank you!**

 **~Cass**


	3. - Moving to London

**Chapter 3 - Moving to London**

* * *

A few months after the convention, Star hauled the suitcase up three flights of stairs, dropping it just inside the door of her new apartment. It was mostly flat with a small set of more stairs into her bathroom. She didn't particularly mind though. Since she was living alone, there was no competition for using the bathroom. She trotted down all the stairs, sweating heavily, and grabbed the last suitcase. Lucky her she'd picked a furnished apartment so she didn't have to go buy furniture.

As soon as the last suitcase was in the new apartment, Star plugged in her Wi-Fi router and connected her laptop to it. Tomorrow she'd go get a British sim card for her phone, but for tonight, she was going to unpack her clothes in the wardrobe, put her bedsheets on her new bed, go out and get some dinner, and rest.

She pulled out her camera and turned it on her face. "Hi. So, if you can't tell from the unfamiliar background behind me, I've moved to London! I'm sure a bunch of you are wondering why. Well, I'll tell you. It was just time for me. I'm only going to stay here for like a year, but I just needed to take some time away from home to find myself and learn how to be _really_ independent. I had enough money to do it—even when I converted it to pounds." She paused for a moment and then grinned. "So, now that I'm here, I thought I'd do a tour and let you guys hang out with me as I unpack all of my clothes." She kept filming as she rolled the first suitcase down the hall and into her bedroom. "It might just be this apartment, but all the rooms are completely walled off! Like, back home the kitchen and the living room—oh wait, the _lounge_ —kind of opened up into each other. But here there are walls between every room so there's just the long hallway." She opened the bedroom door. "And do all British houses not have closets? Because this one has a wardrobe!"

From down the hall in the lounge, her laptop's Skype tone started ringing.

"Hang on! Someone's calling me. I'll be right back!" She turned the camera off and ran down the hall. Not even looking at who was calling, she answered, thinking that it was going to be her mom. Pulling the pink square of paper that she covered the webcam with off, she smiled as her face appeared on the bottom corner of the screen. After a moment, the caller's face appeared.

"Hey Star!" the familiar voice greeted.

"Dan!" Star exclaimed. "It's good to see you! To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I'm just trying to confirm a rumor that got passed to me from Louise."

"And what's that?"

"She told me you were moving to London."

"I just did. I was just about to unpack my suitcase when you called," she informed him with a smile. "Don't know how long I'll stay—right now I'm just looking at a year—but I'm here!" She couldn't stop grinning. Dan just kind of made her happy.

She recognized the background behind him—his bedroom. Since she first met him at the convention, she started watching his videos to get to know him and Phil. Phil's channel was so adorable. He was so happy and cheerful. She felt more of a kindred spirit with Dan, but she adored Phil. He was like the older brother she'd never had. Their combined gaming channel was hilarious and she loved watching their Sims videos.

"Well, where are you living? Do you have a housemate?"

Star gave him her address before shrugging. "No. It's just me. I'm in a little one-bedroom apartment. It's quite nice."

"Do you want me and Phil to come help you with anything?"

"Only if you want. I've got everything up the stairs but I just have to unpack—which I _am_ capable of doing by myself." Her eyelids fluttered. Dragging suitcases up three flights of stairs and jetlag were making her tired.

"One second." Dan turned his head away. "HEY PHIL!" he shouted. There was a slight mumbling in response. "Do you want to help Star move in to her new apartment?" A pause as Phil presumably said something. "No she just got to London!" Star heard a higher-pitched, but inaudible reply but couldn't make out individual words. Dan turned back to her. "We'll be right over. Remind me the address again?"

Star gave it to him again, this time pausing so that he could write it down.

"So I guess I'll see you boys soon?" Star asked.

"Absolutely! See you soon!"

"Right. Bye!"

"Bye!"

They hung up Skype and Star plugged her laptop into the charger. She smiled to herself, looking down at her keyboard. They were hilarious. She loved those two.

Her Skype rang again. It was Ben. Star sighed but decided against answering. She could call him later. He hadn't come with her to London. She wasn't _entirely_ sure if their relationship could survive the distance. But at the same time, she wasn't entirely sure she _wanted_ their relationship to survive.

She grabbed her camera from her bedroom and hung around in the lounge until Dan and Phil showed up.

 _Ding-dong!_ She rushed to the door and let them in, turning the camera on as she went. "And look who it is! AmazingPhil and danisnotonfire! They're being super nice and came to help me unpack some stuff!" she told the camera, giving them one-armed hugs.

"Hey!" Phil said brightly.

"Hello!" Dan added, bending down so he could stand next to Star and still be in shot. She was so much shorter than both of them it was _pathetic_ —to her. They thought it was adorable. "Yeah, we remember how difficult it was to move to London so we thought we'd come and give her a hand. I mean, we only moved from Manchester but she moved from _America!_ "

"You better drop your American accent!" Phil joked, bending down on her other side. "Or you'll just look like the perpetual American tourist."

"Thanks," Star muttered sarcastically. She turned off the camera and gave them proper hugs. "But honestly, guys, it's great to see you."

"How's Ben?" Dan asked.

She cleared her throat, turning pink. "He was frustrated that I was leaving. Thought I was trying to avoid him or something. But eventually he came around and agreed that the move was the best thing for me to do. He's not too happy about it but he understands." She didn't meet his eyes as she spoke. "I doubt our relationship is going to survive this, but I also don't know if I _want_ to still be with him." She shook her head. "But now's not the time! C'mon, lemme show you around!" She slipped the camera strap around her wrist and let it dangle and she gave her friends the tour.

"So, how can we help?" Phil asked after they saw the whole apartment.

"Um… is it okay if you hand me my clothes and I'll hang them up in the clo—wardrobe?" Star answered, feeling awkward. She wasn't really the type to ask for help. Never had been. She figured that was one reason Ben got so frustrated with her all the time—she liked to do things herself but he liked to help her do things.

"That sounds great!" Dan remarked. "Let's set up your camera and do a little video with it!"

Star laughed. "I was planning on doing that anyway," she commented with a grin.

"All the better then!"

Dan and Star balanced the camera carefully on a stack of books from one of her suitcases on top of her new dresser and turned it towards the wardrobe while Phil unzipped the other two suitcases.

"Star, do you love him? Ben?" Dan whispered as they worked.

"Dan…" she started to protest.

"I'm just concerned about you. Since the convention I've watched your videos. Your more recent ones aren't as bright and happy as the older ones. Is he making you unhappy?" He was holding onto her upper arm to make sure she was listening to him.

She sighed. "Sometimes," she admitted. "He doesn't like that YouTube is my job. He doesn't like that I love going to conventions. He thinks that I'm going to get hurt by some psychopath stalker on the internet. I can't say I blame him for being worried and overprotective, but I love what I do. I like meeting my subscribers. I love seeing their faces when they recognize me. But I comes at a cost. And that cost is a strain on my relationship."

"Did you _ever_ love him? Or are you in a relationship of convenience?"

"I did love him at the beginning. He was affectionate and made me feel safe. But everything I loved about him I now detest. That affection is now smothering and that protectiveness is turning into possessiveness. I don't know if I can save our relationship and I don't know if I'd want to if I could. There is a part of him that I still love, but at this point we seem to just be in a relationship of convenience."

"Then maybe you should end it."

"Maybe."

"Star, listen to me. He sounds toxic—and not the Britney Spears song."

She snickered. "And you two are well-known for that song, aren't you?" she teased. Dan laughed and nodded.

"Touché," he remarked.

"Are we doing this video or not?" Phil called from where he was sitting on the ground in front of the wardrobe. Dan and Star glanced at each other, matching dark eyes meeting for a moment, before turning the camera on and rushing over to join Phil.

"We definitely are doing this video!" Star enthused.

* * *

 **End Note: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! See you soon!**

 **~Cass**


	4. - Dinner

**Chapter 4 - Dinner**

* * *

After shooting the video, Phil, Dan, and Star went out and got a bite to eat. The boys insisted on showing her around before settling on a casual pizza restaurant. They were seated in a circular booth with Star in the middle and Dan and Phil on either side so they could stretch their much longer legs out into the aisle if they needed to.

They talked and laughed and had an all-around great time while they waited for their food.

"So, Star," Phil started, mouth full of pizza. "Tell me about your boyfriend."

"He's a good guy," Star replied, thinking hard and choosing her words very carefully. "He's a bit protective and stubborn and has a tendency to ignore what I want but he's smart and funny and has a lot of energy."

"Sounds like you don't like him very much. Maybe you should dump him," Phil remarked as he bent forward to put another bite of pizza in his mouth.

Dan was shaking his hand back and forth in front of his neck, fingers pressed together and bent—the universal sign for "Abort, abort!"—and making a face, staring intensely at Phil as Star's eyes had travelled down to her own pizza and there was a pensive expression on her face. Dan kicked Phil under the table to get his attention and repeated his hand signal. Phil scrunched his eyebrows and shrugged in confusion.

 _What?_ Phil mouthed to Dan.

Star's eyes were still turned down as she slowly cut off a piece of her pizza instead of just picking it up with her hands.

 _She doesn't like talking about her boyfriend,_ Dan mouthed back.

 _Sorry. I didn't know that!_

Star looked up again and both men acted like nothing happened. "Well, Phil… I guess you're not totally wrong," she agreed quietly. There was a sad tinge to her expression and Dan shot his best friend a sharp look. She shook her head to clear it and smiled. "But let's not make tonight about my boyfriend! Let's talk about something fun! You guys will have to show me all of the touristy stuff so that I can honestly say I went and saw all of it by the time I move back home!" Phil smiled, thinking her mood had changed completely, but Dan could see there was pain in her eyes and under her smile.

"We could totally do that! Not tomorrow though."

"No, not tomorrow," Star agreed. "I have to go get a British sim card for my phone and do some other stuff, but sometime soon!"

As they kept talking, the pain in her face eased away and she started to have a really good time. She seemed to really get on with Phil, but her sense of humor was definitely closer to Dan's. As the meal went on, her eyes tended to slip over to watch Dan. He had the most handsome grin—coupled with his dimples, and she couldn't help but smile. Every time he looked over at her, she'd look away—embarrassed to be caught staring.

They all paid for their pizza and left the restaurant. "Phil, how about I just walk Star home? You can go set up the lights for that video you wanted to make," Dan suggested. Phil looked down at Star.

"Would it devastate you if I left early?" he asked.

Star laughed. "Not at all," she replied with a smile.

Dan and Star parted ways with Phil outside the door and went off in separate directions. Dan offered Star his arm. She looped hers through it with a giggle and adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder.

"Sorry about Phil bringing up your boyfriend," Dan apologized.

Star shrugged. "It's fine. I knew it was coming," she replied nonchalantly. "But with both of you telling me that I should dump him, it kinda hurts."

"I know. And I'm sorry."

"There's a 'but' in that tone," Star pointed out.

Dan sighed heavily. "But if he doesn't make your heart pound and your soul sing whenever you see him, then what's the point of being with him?"

"How poetic," Star muttered sarcastically. "Look, Dan, I like that you're worried about me. No one's been that genuinely concerned about my well-being in a while apart from my parents. And, to be honest, I get what you're saying. I know exactly what you mean. But I feel like if I dumped him now, I'd be throwing away everything we worked for." She shrugged. "I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's how I feel."

"It's not ridiculous, Star. I just… you're such a happy person that you deserve someone who will make you even happier, instead of dragging you down," Dan replied. Star pulled him to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk— _pavement_.

"You think Ben's dragging me down?" she asked.

"I think a jealous boyfriend will try to stifle your lively and vibrant personality so that no one else will notice it and try to steal you away from him. But you should be allowed to be exactly who you are, fiery energy and all, without someone trying to put you out." It was his turn to shrug. "I mean, not _just_ you obviously, but people like you. Everyone, in fact. Everyone should just be allowed to be who they are without toxic people trying to drown who they are. You are just a good, nearby example of what I'm trying to say." Dan was getting a bit flustered so he shook his head. "I'm shutting up now." Star pursed her lips and looked at him thoughtfully.

"I know what you mean," she mumbled quietly, starting to walk again, pulling Dan with her where their arms were connected. "But can we talk about something else? Tell me about London!"

Dan smiled and obliged. They moved away from the topic of relationships completely in order to talk about London and British culture and the landscape and weather. Star drank in everything he said, completely fascinated by how different but similar it was to America. Her eyes watched him instead of the pavement, letting him guide her through the streets.

They were stopped at a corner by traffic, standing by an elderly couple holding hands.

"Excuse me," the old woman piped up to them. Both of them turned to look. "I just wanted to say that you two are a cute couple. How sweet of your boyfriend to escort you. No one does that anymore."

Star's jaw dropped and she took a deep breath to tell the woman that they weren't dating, but Dan nudged her with his elbow.

"Thank you," he replied with a sideways smile. "We're both traditionalists."

"Well, it's good to see that you young men still know how to be chivalrous," the woman commented.

"At the very least, just me," Dan offered. The old woman smiled and patted his cheek.

"Good boy," she told him fondly.

There was a gap in the traffic and Star and Dan rushed across the road, the elderly couple taking the same distance at a leisurely stroll. Star looked up at Dan as soon as they were out of earshot. "Did you… know them?"

"No, but it's better to just let old people ramble and believe what they want to believe," he replied.

Star nodded and chuckled. "I'll bear that in mind," she commented.

They continued in silence until they reached Star's front door. They stood opposite each other for a moment, both just smiling, trying to find something to say. Star was digging her keys out of her bag with one hand, doing her best to not look away. Her mind was running a thousand miles per hour, exhilarated from the day, but exhausted and ready to collapse at the same time. Finally she sighed and gave him a half-smile.

"Well, thank you, for today I mean. Um… I guess… I'll see you later?"

 _You are such an awkward idiot,_ she thought sharply, trying to keep her frustration from registering on her face.

Dan smiled. "Yeah definitely! If you ever need anything, Phil and I are here. Most of the time."

She giggled a bit. "I'll remember that too." She turned to go inside, but Dan grabbed her elbow.

"This might sound weird, but sometime before the summer's over, would you like to do a proper collab video with me? And maybe Phil?" he asked quickly. Star blinked twice, trying to decipher everything he said for a moment. When she understood, she smiled.

"I'd love to! Let me know when you're free! You have my Skype." She waved and slipped into her apartment. She leaned against the door to close it and just rested there for a moment, smiling at the floor. Her bag slipped off her shoulder and she flung it down onto carpet just outside the lounge door. She bit her lower lip, still grinning, reveling in how good her day had been.

Her day got a bit worse as a thought struck her.

 _I should probably Skype Ben back…_

* * *

 **End Note: Thanks for reading!**

 **~Cass**


	5. - My Immortal

**Chapter 5 - My Immortal**

* * *

Two weeks. Star had been on her own in London for two weeks by the time Dan called her on Skype to ask if she was free to film a collab. The move-in video had been up for the same amount of time. She agreed and gave him her new phone number while she was at it. "Are we going to film at your place or mine?" she asked.

"Mine. Yours is smaller." He gave her their address. Star scribbled it down and leaned over to grab her bag. She smiled at the image of Dan.

"I'll be right over! See you soon!"

"See you soon!"

She snapped her laptop closed and shoved it in her laptop bag—which she was taking with her. She snagged her keys off the hook she'd put up next to the front door and slipped out. She locked her door and rushed down the three flights of stairs that led to the ground floor. She smiled at the pavement as she walked, excited to see her friends again.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the ID. It was Zoe—one of the few people she'd given her new number to. "Hey Zoe! What's going on?"

"Where are you?" Zoe asked.

"On my way to Dan and Phil's house to film a collab. How about you?"

"I'm home. I was just wondering if sometime in the next couple weeks you'd like to spend a weekend out here to make some tutorials or something with me. I think it'd be really fun to just do something silly together!"

"Yeah, totally!" Star agreed. "That sounds great! Like a sleepover!"

"I was going to ask if you wanted to come today but you're going to Dan and Phil's. So have fun! We'll have to get together soon!"

"Heck yeah we should! And we could call Louise and have a girls' day if you want!"

"Like go shopping or something too?"

"Of course!"

"That sounds like fun!" Zoe agreed.

"I know right? Can I call you back later though? I've gotta figure out how to get to Dan and Phil's from here."

"Of course you can call later! Have fun with Dan and Phil. They're hilarious!"

"I've found that out! Bye Zoe!" She hung up and opened her map app.

After what felt like _ages_ of walking, she made it to Dan and Phil's apartment building. Once inside she was bombarded by hugs from both of them. Phil in particular was hugging her so fiercely she was about to fall over. "Hi guys!" she greeted, voice strained since they were crushing her lungs. "It's good to see you too!" Dan took her bag off her shoulder and leaned it against the wall as Phil continued to attempt to squeeze her to death.

"Any trouble finding the place?" Dan asked.

"Not really. That's what the map apps are for," she replied, good humor in her voice.

"So what are you and Dan going to film?" Phil demanded, finally letting her go. "Just, you know, so you and I don't film the same thing."

Star laughed. "I don't know. Dan didn't say," she answered, still giggling.

"Well," Dan started. "I thought we could do a very sarcastic Sibling Tag, since we have almost the same hair and eyes. You have a prettier nose than me, but I think we could pull it off. How's your British accent?"

After taming her laugh and smile, Star met his eyes. "Well, I don't know. You'll have to tell me how good my British accent is," she commented in her best British accent, doing her best to copy the way he spoke in his old videos before he adopted the London accent. Both Dan and Phil's eyes widened, mouths parting in equal surprise.

"That was almost _terrifyingly_ convincing," Phil informed her.

She gave them the cheekiest smile. "That's what my cousin told me. She grew up here," she remarked, back to her own American voice. "So we're gonna do the Sibling Tag?"

"Unless you can think of something better," Dan answered.

Star bit the inside of her cheek, thinking. "Can you play 'My Immortal' on the piano?" she wondered. Dan stared at her blankly for a few moments.

"I think so. Why? You're not seriously thinking about doing a cover are you?"

"Well, maybe just on one of our side-channels. But I thought that might be fun."

Dan looked thoughtful. Phil nudged him in the arm. "You should totally do it!" Phil enthused.

"Well… we can try. We'll put it on _your_ side-channel so that fewer people will see if I make a complete fool of myself," Dan decided. Star smirked and did a silly little dance—making both men smile and roll their eyes a little bit.

"Deal!" she squealed. "Should we do that first or last?"

"First to get it over with."

Star chuckled. "Well then, shall we?"

Dan led her into his room and set up his camera so it could see the piano. "Might as well," he muttered. As soon as the camera started recording, he sat at the out-of-tune piano and started to play. Star leaned against the side of the old upright and began to sing. Even when Dan fumbled and missed notes, she didn't miss a beat, rarely even slowing down for him if he got lost. Phil was outside the closed door, listening with a smile. Star had a pleasant voice. It wasn't satiny smooth or crystal clear, but she had decent pitch and was doing fair justice to the song.

Surprisingly, Dan sang some of the harmonies when he didn't have to concentrate so hard on what his hands were doing. When he first sang, Star looked down at him and smiled brightly before going back to the emotion of the song. It made her cry, her heartstrings pulling in her chest. All the pain in her relationship with Ben leaking out. The tears didn't hinder her voice—they just rolled down her face and fell off of her chin.

Dan's eyes flicked up to her and he almost stopped playing when he saw the glistening tracks down her face. But he didn't stop playing, and she didn't stop singing. He looked back at the keys quickly so he wouldn't lose his place or miss a chord.

When their simple cover ended, Star wiped her face with her hands and then her shirt. She smiled at the camera as Dan turned around to face it. "Right! Well, we hope you enjoyed that! Literally did it in one take. Possibly might do it again just to get it _perfect_ for the perfectionist over here—" She jerked her thumb at Dan, who gave her an affronted look. "—but I had fun doing it, and I _think_ Dan liked playing it. So thanks for watching! Subscribe to me by clicking on my face or the red button under the video, and subscribe to Dan by clicking on his face! Though, if you're here, you're probably already subscribed to him, to be honest."

"Now we're going to go film some videos for our other channels," Dan put in.

"Yes! So we'll see you later, Dreamers!" Star waved, crossed to the camera, and turned it off. She turned to Dan. "We did good! You were _phenomenal_!" she told him.

The door to Dan's room opened. Phil was slowly clapping, leaned against the frame. "You both were great! I think you guys should upload that with like no editing and just see how people respond. Unless you _want_ to do that again," he commented. Dan bit his lower lip and Star shrugged, fiddling with the silver-and-blue ring on her right hand's ring finger.

"I'm fine with whatever."

"Let's just film our other videos," Dan said.

"Okay."

"So, any other ideas besides the Sibling Tag?"

After a moment, her face lit up. "We could do each other's makeup!" Star suggested with a laugh and an eager smile. "Like you do mine for my channel, and I do yours for your channel! We could use sibling words in the title too—like Zoe and Joe! 'My Sister Does My Makeup' and 'My Brother Does My Makeup' and not even do any explanation at all!" Dan heaved a heavy sigh and put his face in his hands. Star just kind of watched him, half of her mind marveling at how _long_ his fingers were, the other half eagerly hoping he would agree to her idea.

Finally Dan dropped his hands. "Fine," he muttered. "Let me go get the makeup leftover from me and Phil's Blindfolded Makeup Challenge." He got up from his white chair and left his room. Phil followed him as Star sat down on the moon chair in the corner of Dan's room.

"You can't seem to say no to her," Phil remarked.

"She's just… like an excitable puppy or little kid. Like if I say no she'll just be so crestfallen and devastated. I would feel so horrible and guilty. I just don't want to see her so sad," Dan replied.

"You sure that's all?" Phil wondered.

"Come again?"

"Is that the _only_ reason you can't refuse her?"

"Phil…"

"Look, as your best friend, it's my _job_ to both tease you and make sure you're happy. And yeah she's got a boyfriend. So what? He sounds like a horrible guy. One day they're gonna break up and her heart will be broken. Sort of. Then you swoop in and pick up the pieces and she'll fall in love with you and _voila_ you all live happily ever after!" Phil said dramatically, giving a flailing arm movement on the _voila_. Dan rolled his eyes and rifled through all the junk in the storage cupboard looking for the makeup.

* * *

 **End Note: Hope you enjoyed as much as I did!**

 **Thanks for reading! Leave a question or a comment if you have one!**


	6. - My Sister Does My Makeup

**Chapter 6 - My Sister Does My Makeup**

* * *

"Hello internet!" Dan greeted the camera energetically, holding a copy of Harry Potter up to cover Star's face. "I am joined today by a very special guest!" He turned to look at her. "Make a noise—give us a clue!"

After a brief pause in which she couldn't think of anything, Star just started laughing.

Dan shrugged. "Good enough. It's my little sister!" He dropped his arm—nearly hitting her in the leg with _Goblet of Fire—_ to reveal her face. She smiled and continued to laugh.

"Hello internet!" she said to the camera cheerily, putting on her best southwest England accent, and waving enthusiastically.

"Today we're going to do something that I thought I was never going to do again! And that is… wear makeup!" Dan turned to her. "I'm going to put my old sound-effect there, by the way, if you think that wasn't dramatic enough." Star put her hands up.

"I wasn't even going to say anything," she commented, maintaining her accent almost perfectly.

"Anyway! In case you didn't read the title, this is my sister, and she's going to do my makeup. Now—" He turned to look at Star. "—are you going to do this seriously or are you going to do something absolutely ridiculous?" Star gave him the most sarcastic and skeptical expression, tilting her head down and glaring up at him.

"Really, Dan?" she remarked. "Do you know me _at all_?!"

"Er…" he trailed off, giving the camera a scared side-eye.

"I'm going to be serious. I'm a fun person, but I want to see what you look like in proper makeup," Star retorted.

"Oh. Okay," Dan commented.

"I'm going to start with the eyes because it's how I start my own makeup," Star remarked, still with the same accent, picking up the eyeshadow pack. She pulled the little brush out after opening the clear plastic top and leaned across the small gap of space, arms up. "Now, you and Phil had absolutely no idea what you were doing, so I'm going to do the tri-tone that I always do. Dark on the lower lid over your actual eyeball, medium over the middle and the crease, and then light just under the eyebrow. That gives it a kind of natural look." She brushed the makeup on as she spoke. "I'm sure a lot of women do it another way, but this is always what looks best on me. Like I _know_ I've seen SprinkleofGlitter do the dark shade in the crease, but I think with our particular complexion, this simple tri-tone looks fine. It's casual but can pass for fancy if it has to." She set the brush back in the little tray and closed the lid.

"Now what?" Dan asked, looking a bit scared.

"I'm going to put your eyeliner on. Now, when you and Phil did the punk edits, you did them so far away from the edges there was a _visible_ pale line of skin between your lashes and the liner. And I'm going to call that the line of shame. Close your eyes, raise your eyebrows, and hold still."

Dan did as instructed. Star was leaning so close to him that he could smell her perfume. She was being gentle as she applied the eyeliner to his top lids. "Am I going to be pretty when this is all over?"

"Oh you're just going to be so beautiful," Star answered teasingly.

"That's a relief. I don't think I've ever known what it feels like to be beautiful."

"Shut up you goof. Mum always told you that you're very handsome. And you are."

"Yeah well that's Mum's job, isn't it?"

"Now open your eyes, look up, and stay as still as you can," Star ordered. Dan did.

"I feel ridiculous," he mumbled.

As she dragged the eye pencil over the outside halves of his lower lids, she started to giggle. "You're just going to look amazing. I can already see it. Your eyes look so much darker with this eyeliner."

"Really? Is that a good thing?"

"Absolutely. And at least I'm not doing foundation and concealer and whatever. _I_ don't even put all of that on." She glanced at the camera. "I have naturally fabulous skin," she informed the lens sarcastically. Dan chuckled. "Stop laughing! Unless you want me to stab you in the eye. I've done that to myself before and it's not fun!" He froze. "Good boy." After a moment, she capped the pencil.

"What's next?"

"Well, if you were _me_ it'd be the eyelash curler, but since you're not me, I'm going to spare you the pain and just put mascara on you. Look up and blink when I tell you to," Star instructed, still keeping her accent effortlessly. She unscrewed the mascara cap and pulled the brush out. "Okay. Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink." With each word, Dan closed his eyes. Star kept the brush far enough away from his eye that she didn't poke it, but close enough to actually get mascara on his eyelashes of his left eye.

"How am I going to get all of this off later?" he asked.

"Don't be such a baby," Star snapped. "Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink." Dan followed her orders. "I brought a makeup remover wipe package with me because I knew you would be hopeless."

"You know me so well," Dan lied. They actually didn't know each other that well.

"Well, you _are_ my brother," Star added, putting the mascara away. "And now for the blusher. You picked a truly horribly pink shade. I wish I'd brought my own. It's a bit more peach-colored and doesn't look as garish on skin as pale as yours."

"Why _are_ you tanner than me?" Dan asked as she lightly wiped the pink on his cheekbones.

"Because I actually leave the house," she retorted in utter seriousness, concentrating on his face.

"Fair point," Dan conceded.

"And now the lipstick!" Star looked around. "Where is it?"

"Oh it broke off, remember? We threw it away."

"Well that doesn't mean you're getting out of it. I brought my own." She rushed out of the room and came back with her laptop bag. She dug through the front pocket and pulled out a tube of brilliantly blood-red lipstick. She rubbed a bit on the back of her left hand to get her lip germs off and then instructed Dan to open his mouth slightly and _hold still._ He did as he was told as she smeared the weird scarlet paint-y stuff over his lips.

"This feels so weird. And it tastes awful."

"You're not supposed to _lick_ it," Star snapped. "But that's me finished. You actually look quite nice. I'd say it's about a forty-two-percent improvement on your normal face." She giggled and glanced at the camera as Dan rolled his eyes.

"Thanks," he remarked sarcastically, getting out of his chair to go to his mirror. Star turned the camera so it could record his reaction. "Actually you did quite well!"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Star demanded.

"Because I thought you were going to do something ridiculous under the pretense of being serious," Dan answered honestly. Star poked her head into the camera's shot and rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"No faith in his own sister," she commented.

Dan sat back down and they turned the camera back to them. "Well, that was faster and far less painful than I thought it would be! If you enjoyed this, give it a thumbs up! And if you're not already, click on this button over here—" He pointed off to the side and above him where he'd superimpose a yellow _SUBSCRIBE_ image. "—to subscribe to my channel to see more of my videos! And if you liked the appearance of my sister, check out my sister's channel by clicking on her face! I hope to never do that again—for real this time—but this was actually somewhat okay. Bye internet!" He turned the camera off and turned to Star. "Your accent is _amazingly_ accurate!"

She laughed. "Thanks. You look great. You should take a photo and post it to Instagram after you upload that video!" She was staring at his red lips, grinning like a fool. "Now let's record the video for my channel while you still have it all on!"

* * *

 **End Note: I had a fantastic time writing this, so I hope you guys had a fun time reading it! I love these three idiots!**

 **Thanks for reading! Questions? Comments? Please let me know! (ESPECIALLY if I spelled something wrong or forgot a word!)**


	7. - My Brother Does My Makeup

**Chapter 7 - My Brother Does My Makeup**

* * *

Star smiled at her camera, waving. "Hello-ha! I am joined by a very special guest today!" Dan leaned into the shot. "It's my brother! And if you read the title of the video, you know that he's bravely volunteered to do my makeup today!"

"And in order to sound really professional and posh—like I actually know what I'm doing—I'm going to do the whole video with this accent!" he told the lens, using his natural British accent.

"Oh you are, are you?" Star asked with a laugh.

"Yes," Dan replied shortly.

"Okay then," she remarked, chuckling quietly. "Now you'll notice that he already has a fabulous face of makeup. I just did his over on his channel, so if you click on his luscious lips or the card in the corner right now, that video will open up in a new window so you can go watch that after you watch this!" She sighed and slapped her knees. "Alright, bro, I'm going out for the day and I have to look presentable. So here are your tools—" She handed him all the makeup she'd been holding. "—and your job is to make me beautiful."

Dan bit his lower lip and took all the plastic boxes in his long hands. "That might be difficult."

"Shut up," Star snapped, whacking him in the chest.

"Okay. I'm going to do what you did and start with the eyes. I have no idea which eyeshadow you used for me, so I'm just going to make it up as I go and hope for the best.

"Sounds… great."

"So close your eyes and hold still. I'm going to try and put the eyeshadow on the way Louise and Zoe have done—with the dark shade in the crease. I've seen them do it before so I think I can copy it," Dan remarked. Star closed her eyes and raised her eyebrows so the hoods of her eyelids wouldn't impede Dan's little brush. She held stock still.

"And what does that achieve?" she asked with a small smirk.

"It highlights the color of your eyes and makes them pop," Dan replied like he actually knew what he was talking about.

Star snorted. "Okay."

"Now open your eyes and let me see," Dan ordered. Star complied. "Oh yes, this is just going to look amazing." She rolled her eyes and shook her head, looking at the camera like she was on _The Office_. "Close them again so I can put your eyeliner on."

Star bit her lower lip, bracing for pain. She'd been as gentle as possible when doing Dan's eyeliner, but she guessed that he had no idea how much pressure was acceptable and how much was painful. She sucked in a deep breath and held it, frozen in place like a marble statue as Dan leaned over her legs and held the side of her face with his right hand. She could feel his warm palm against her cheek as the sharp end of the eye pencil pressed against the outside corner of her right eye.

"This eyeliner is a great shade for your complexion, you know, Star," Dan remarked in his poshest accent. "It's just gonna make your eyes look so much darker and _intense_."

"That sounds fantastic," Star commented, eyes still closed. There was a cheeky grin on both of their mouths. "Can't wait to see how beautiful I look. Are you putting it on _evenly_ or am I going to have wavy eyeliner?"

Dan hesitated for a moment before answering, glancing at the camera with a guilty expression. "Of _course_ it's even! Who do you think I am?" he retorted sarcastically. Star snorted again and rolled her eyes under closed lids. "Oi! I told you to hold still! You're going to make me mess up!" She snickered and went back to being frozen. "Okay. Look up."

Star did as she was told and felt Dan apply the black pencil to her entire lower lids' lines.

He laughed. "Alright! Eyeliner is finished!"

"So now what?"

"Mascara. But can you just do your own? I'm going to poke you in the eye if I try."

"Unfortunately no. You have to do it."

Dan sighed. "Fine! Hold still and blink when I tell you."

"Yes, _Mom_ ," Star snapped playfully. Dan rolled his eyes and gave her a teasing shove.

"Between the two of us _you're_ the one who's more like Mom," he informed her imperiously, even saying Mom instead of Mum, but still using his own accent. "Oh wait. _Mum_. I'm being British today." Star laughed as Dan unscrewed the mascara tube and pulled the brush out. "Okay! Now hold still and blink when I tell you!" Star opened her eyes wide and looked up at the ceiling. "Blink. Blink. Blink. Bl—"

"Ow!" she yelped, recoiling and hand flying up towards her eye. She stopped about an inch from her face to avoid smearing her makeup. "Careful how close you get to my eyeball!"

"Sorry!" Dan apologized, giving her a big hug. Star blinked several times, getting the blot of black mascara out of her eye—or at least trying since she wasn't allowed to look in the mirror until he was finished with her face. "Are you okay?"

"I will be in a minute. Just a sec." She pulled her lower eyelid down—careful to avoid the eyeliner—and blinked rapidly until the pain went away. "Okay. I'm good. Just be careful."

"Sorry," Dan repeated. "Can I keep going or have I done enough damage?"

"You can carry on if you're careful. I can't stand just having one eye done up and the other left blank. Just be careful." She looked up and blinked slower as Dan held the brush under her other eye. This time he didn't hurt her and once he was done, he shoved the brush back into the tube and screwed the lid back on.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I've done it to myself before. What comes next?"

"Blush!" Dan exclaimed. "I have here this lovely pink shade, and we're just going to turn your cheekbones into little pink apples!"

Star put her fingers to her forehead. "I think you mean you're going to apply it to the apples of my cheeks," she remarked. The apples of her cheeks just meant her cheekbones. Her mother had always said that when she was teaching Star how to put blush on. "That's what Mom always says." Dan waved his hand dismissively and rubbed his red-painted lips together.

"Yes, yes, sure. Whatever," he brushed off, rubbing two fingers into the blush and then smearing it over her cheeks. _I'm going to look so incredibly ridiculous,_ Star thought to herself as she felt him put the blush _not_ on her cheekbones. _Oh well. It'll be hilarious—and that was the point!_ She smiled slightly as Dan moved to her other cheek. "What are you smirking at?" he asked. She shrugged and gave a small shake of her head.

"Nothing. Just thought of something funny," she answered.

"Right. Well, pucker up your lips, sister! It's time for lipstick!"

After Star laughed and threw her head back, she opened her lips and held them as steady as she could so Dan could push the tube of firetruck red lipstick over them. Finishing with a flourish, he put the lid back on.

"And you're finished! Are you ready to see the completed look?" he asked.

Star pursed her lips together as she stood from the red dining chair and crossed Dan's room to the mirror, eyes closed. With a deep, fortifying breath, she opened her eyes.

 _I look like a clown!_ Star thought, internally screaming.

Everything had been applied too heavily. Her cheeks were a bright and shiny pink, her eyeliner was thick and uneven, her eyeshadow was just a mess, and the lipstick looked like a kid coloring outside the lines. She cleared her throat. "Well, I can't say I expected anything less," she remarked. "All things considered, I guess you actually did a fair job."

"I know. I did horrible and you look like a nightmare," Dan remarked.

Star went back to her dining chair and sat down. "Well, if you liked this video and want to see more of me—can't guarantee my brother will be back anytime soon—you can click Subscribe on my face or the button below the video and if you want to check out my brother's channel, you can click on his face to subscribe to him! Now we're going to go take pictures of how ridiculous we both look, and then wash all of this crap off! And I will see you later Dreamers!" She waved and then face-palmed before reaching forward and hitting the record button to stop filming.

"Hey Phil!" Dan shouted over his shoulder. "Come on in and look!"

The door to Dan's room opened all the way and Phil came in. Star was giving him an exasperated but amused look and Dan was grinning.

"Well, Dan actually looks okay. Star… not so much," Phil told them.

Star nodded. "I know." She handed him her phone. "Wanna take a picture?" Phil took it. Star and Dan leaned together so they could both be in the frame and smiled. They heard the shutter sound and then Phil handed her the phone. She opened the picture. "Oh wow. That has to go on Instagram!" she exclaimed.

"Oh please no!" Dan protested.

"Oh yes!" Star replied.

* * *

 **End Note: I know it's taken forever and you probably hate me for making you wait, yada, yada, yada. In my defense, it's been a long semester and stuff. Hate me or not, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! (Shout out to a friend for reminding me to update - you know who you are!)**

 **Thank you for reading! Questions and comments always welcome!**


	8. - Lunch Dates

**Chapter 8 - Lunch Dates**

* * *

 _I had a great time yesterday! Wanna meet me at a café for lunch?_ Dan's text read. Star grinned and shoved her wallet in her bag, along with her lip gloss.

 _I'd love to!_

 _I'll text you the address, ok?_

 _Okay! See you soon!_

She yanked a brush through her hair and pulled on a pair of comfortable walking shoes that weren't sneakers. She thought about putting on makeup—but it was just Dan. He wasn't going to care or judge her for not wearing eyeliner and mascara.

While she was on the road, she got the address from Dan and started to trot to the café. Surprisingly it was one that she actually knew. But it was a good ways away and would take about ten, maybe fifteen minutes to walk to. So she dug her headphones out of the bottom of her bag, gently placed them in her ears, and turned on her music. _Immortals_ by Fall Out Boy started semi-blasting down her ear canals—loud enough to drown out London but quiet enough that it wouldn't cause permanent hearing damage.

She walked with a skip in her step until she reached the coffee shop. Dan was standing outside of it, casually leaned against the window, obviously trying to look cool—and _almost_ succeeding. Star laughed the moment she saw him anyway. A smile broke out on his face and he pushed off the window with his elbow to give her hug. "Good to see you," he remarked.

"You saw me yesterday," she retorted, still giggling. "Where's Phil?"

"Er… well… I thought it would be nice to just have lunch… you and me. Phil's still editing the video you did with him… and I didn't tell him I was going out to have lunch with you."

"Careful how you phrase it," Star chided playfully, nudging him in the arm as they entered the shop. "If you're not careful it'll sound dangerously close to a date. And remember, I'm taken." Dan chuckled and offered her his arm while they were standing in line—or in the _queue_ , as Star had heard Dan and Phil and Louise and Zoe call it several times since she first met all of them. She sighed and linked her arm through his, biting her lower lip and grinning.

"You may be taken, Star, but that doesn't mean I can't act like a close friend," Dan replied.

She leaned her forehead against his arm. He was so tall and she was so obnoxiously short that the top of her head barely reached his shoulder, so her forehead was almost on the bare skin of his arm instead of his T-shirt sleeve.

"Be careful, Dan," she warned teasingly.

They'd almost reached the counter as they'd been talking. There were just two guys in front of them. "What do you want? My treat."

"No! Dan! I can buy my own lunch!" Star protested.

Dan smiled and looked down at her. "I know. But I asked you to come here. So it's only fair that I treat you to lunch," he countered. Star rolled her eyes and elbowed him gently in the side while giving him an amused glare.

"I'm a big girl. I can buy my own lunch," she pressed.

"Yes, we've been through that. But I _want_ to treat you to lunch."

"You're getting even dangerously closer to this classifying as a date."

"Perhaps. But it's not a date. It's a new friend wanting to get to know a new friend and wants to be kind and chivalrous by offering to pay for his new friend's lunch," Dan explained.

"Fine. Happy?"

"Yes. Now what would you like?"

"I'll go for a chocolate chunk muffin and a hot chocolate," she commented, reading over the menu.

Dan nodded. He ordered for both of them and then let Star pick out a table while he waited to get their order. He looked around until he saw Star waving from near a window, brought their lunches over, and set hers down in front of her. "See? That wasn't so hard, now, was it?" he joked. Star snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I suppose not," she replied sarcastically.

From then on, they had lunch together almost every other day. Sometimes they'd go out to a café or a casual restaurant, and sometimes one or the other would just make sandwiches and they'd eat at each other's apartments. Phil only knew about their lunches when Star would be at their house—which wasn't often—or when he was invited out to a café with them. Dan kept using the pretense of showing their newcomer American friend all the different places in London, because she wouldn't find any of them otherwise. He was right, but whenever he would tease her about it, Star would elbow him jokingly in the side.

Soon, seeing each other almost every other day just wasn't enough for either of them. They were becoming such good friends, so fast, that they were very comfortable with each other. So Fridays became movie nights. Star wanted to have Dan and Phil over to her place for popcorn and a movie, but she didn't have a proper TV yet, so Dan and Phil insisted on having her over to their place. All she had to do was provide the movie—which she was more than happy to do.

Star had never really been one to fall asleep during movies, but sometimes, sitting on Dan's left with Phil on his right, she would relax her head against his shoulder. Dan would wrap his arm around her shoulders to get it out of the way, and she would fall asleep against his shoulder, half-eaten bowl of popcorn resting on her lap. Phil would keep making sarcastic comments during movies that Dan would chuckle at, but Phil wouldn't even notice that Star's laugh didn't join in because she was asleep. And then, when the movie was over, both boys would put blankets on top of her and let her stay the night on the sofa. Normally they would have offered the sofa-bed, but she was already asleep, so Dan would gently lift her head so Phil could slide a pillow under it.

Phil would leave to brush his teeth first as Dan cleaned up the popcorn bowls, casting a lingering glance at the sleeping girl before leaving for the kitchen.

The only time they didn't have a movie night was the weekend Star spent at Zoe and Alfie's to make collab videos with them both.

Sometimes, if Louise was in London, she would join them too and then they'd have a Boys vs Girls game night. It became quite evident quickly that Star was a decent challenger to Dan's title of Mario Kart King. She'd sit there, quietly and effortlessly steering over unfamiliar tracks, getting in a narrow second-place while Phil and Louise got caught around seventh.

But it was the board games that they all got super competitive during. Star didn't want to play Cards Against Humanity so instead they played Apples to Apples and The Game of Life—which she was quite adept at both.

Dan would watch her as she thought about which Apples to Apples card to put down, biting her lower lip with dark eyes narrowed at the seven cards in her hand. Then when she'd win, he'd smile at the look of elation on her face and her smile. She usually would do a little victory dance in her chair before accepting the green category card. Louise would give her a high-five and Phil would laugh.

They became a small little family for Star, who was an ocean away from her real one.

But all the while, despite how much fun she was having, her Skype calls with Ben got increasingly more strained. He was frustrated with how little she initiated a conversation and how she never seemed to be available when he called.

She told him the truth—or most of it anyway. That she was out with friends and they were helping her get acquainted with London life. She didn't tell him that she spent half of the time admiring the scenery, and the other half of the time giving Dan furtive glances while no one was looking, admiring how handsome he was. She told him that she was just getting used to the time-zone differences and every time she'd wanted to call him, he'd still be asleep because it was two in the morning where he lived. She didn't tell him that she was having more fun with Dan and Phil than she'd had with Ben in a long time.

She especially didn't tell him about the charged atmosphere that one time they were playing Truth or Dare with Louise and Phil dared Dan to dance a waltz with Star.

No. She couldn't tell Ben about that. Ever.

* * *

 **End Note: I know I've been away for a while. School and stuff happened and then I went on a two week vacation to London (and of course, the week I'M in London, DAN AND PHIL ARE NOT - but I did get to literally see the Queen so I'm only mildly complaining) and then more crazy life happened. But I'm back!**

 **Thank you so much for reading! If you have any questions or comments, all are welcome!**


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